Masquerade
by 630leosa
Summary: Jump O.U.T. is having a Heroes and Villains party. Robin goes dressed as Red X, and ends up making a deal with a red-headed 'Robin'...
1. Jump OUT

_A/N: I'm gonna do more short chapters and less long chapters with this story, but hopefully I'll update it quicker that way._

_Warning! This will hopefully be a slash story. So, don't like? Don't read!  
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><p>Jump O.U.T. is the biggest gay club in Jump City. It's also frequently visited by a certain teenage hero, not that anyone was actually aware of that, of course. 'Richard Criss' seemed like a perfectly normal teenage boy - why would anyone suspect him of leading a double life, let alone a triple life. As well as Robin 'the boy wonder' the leader of the Teen Titans, he was actually Richard Grayson, the rich ward of billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, who just happens to be Batman.<p>

Robin hasn't exactly 'come out' yet, well, not to everyone, and Raven had promised not to out him and let him do it himself. That was two years ago.

It wasn't that he was embarrassed about being gay, it was just awkward. He was one of Jump City's biggest icons and he'd rather people think he wasn't interested in anyone, regardless of gender. But of course, being a teenage boy that wasn't the case.

That was why he created Richard Criss, Richard Grayson would draw too much attention, and also mean that Bruce would find out about his sexual preference. That was a father-son talk he wasn't looking forward to.

Today was a Thursday, that meant that it was fancy dress night at O.U.T. and since it was the four year anniversary of the Titans forming to protect the people of Jump, the theme tonight was heroes and villains.

So 'Richard' had a choice to make. He sat on the edge of his bed and looked between his costume choices. He could just go as Robin, but he didn't want to risk anyone working out his true identity. Plus he got to be a superhero every day of the week, it wasn't much fun to pretend to be one. On the other hand he had a perfectly good villain outfit, one that he'd even designed himself, even if someone else had made it famous… or infamous, as the case was.

The only problem was the mask. He'd designed the Red X suit with a full-face mask and a voice scrambler to make sure he wouldn't be recognised. Unfortunately, wearing a full-faced mask wasn't as practical in a nightclub as it was on the streets of Jump. A quick glance at the clock told him he had about three and a half hours before the club opened: plenty of time to design a new mask.

The new mask turned out to be more of a domino mask than a half mask like he'd intended it to be. It was white with the red X much closer to the black around his eyes so it could be clearly seen. Four teeth-like spikes ran down onto his cheeks to complete the skull-like mask. Much more practical for nightclubbing.

He actually arrived at the club ten minutes before it was due to open and sat down in a café across the street to kill some time, slipping into the bathroom to change. Most people arrived in costume to these things, and it would have raised too many questions if his team had seen him leaving the tower in costume, especially if he left dressed as _Red X_.

He got halfway across the road before he heard someone wolf-whistling, and was just outside the club when the person approached him.

"Nice costume, love what you did with the mask!"

Robin easily recognised her voice, without even turning round he answered. "Thanks, Topaz. Welcome back." She'd been out of town for the last few weeks, visiting family over in Steel City. He'd quickly become friends with the fiery young woman when she'd taken him under her wing during his first visit to O.U.T. and they had been good friends ever since.

"Glad to be back. Steel's got nothing on this place." She winked, leaning over Robin to open the door to the small corridor that led to the main room and enter ahead of him, no doubt so that he could check out her own costume. Topaz may _prefer _girls but she was completely bisexual, she would flirt with anyone and loved it when someone was checking her out, even if they _didn't _like girls that way.

She'd definitely dressed to attract attention tonight: a very tight, white leather, virtually no-sleeved, Power Girl suit with a shortened cape. The short wavy hair was her usual electric blue but now the layered fringe and two thick bangs were golden blond.

Robin gave a low whistle as he took in her appearance, of course he'd met the real Power Girl, but even she didn't manage to make that costume look as sexy as _that_. "Are you trying to turn every guy here? I swear, more and more guys will be picking up red badges tonight."

The red badges had stated out as a joke about a year ago, a few straight guys and girls had always shown up with their friends and it started to get confusing who was straight and who was not.

Topaz was actually one of the first ones to start it off, she'd bet someone a free round of drinks that she could get more girls to flirt back with her then he could get guys to flirt with him. Both of them gave anyone who turned them down a red badge with their initial on it to show who hadn't flirted back. After a while it became kind of a joke that everyone who wore a red badge must be straight and the initials had been taken off and available for anyone to pick up at the bar. Somewhere down the line people had forgotten that it was a joke and now most of the straight people in the club tended to wear one.

"All the cute ones like guys anyway." She shrugged. "Besides, if I had the power to turn people you _know _we'd be seeing each other right now, cutie." She couldn't hold back a laugh as she heard the snort she received for that comment.

The main hall was huge, and the few people who had arrived early made it look even bigger then usual. The whole room was decorated for the occasion. The walls and floors could almost match the ones outside, although they only looked dirty in here. The usually brightly coloured lights had been replaced with plain white, making them look more like police search lights then party lights. The theme continued throughout the club: the bar staff were dressed as police officers and the banisters of the wide balcony upstairs had been extended with thin bars that went up to the ceiling every few metres, making the of whole upstairs look like a prison cell.

The only exception was the wall behind the stage. It was different to the rest of the room, painted to look like a beautiful sunset, with Titans' Tower standing proudly in the centre. The stage itself had a few tables on it, covered with pens and paper and a few boxes. Nights like this always had a best-dressed competition, but judging by the amount of tables, there were a lot more competitions going on tonight.

Robin and Topaz quickly grabbed a members' booth towards the back, close to the bar. Topaz got them a few drinks while they waited for more people to arrive, giving Robin the choice of a martini or a beer. He shrugged, and within a few seconds Topaz had taken a gulp of the beer and handed him the brightly coloured martini. It even had a miniature red umbrella perched on the edge. Robin grinned - at least at Jump O.U.T. there was no chance of being teased for having such a 'girly' drink. If Cyborg or Beast Boy could see him now, they wouldn't know what to make of it!

It didn't take long for the place to fill out, people tended to arrive early to guarantee a booth or a locker in the cloak room before they were all taken. Certain booths and lockers were reserved for actual members and only a handful of people had the honour of becoming members, very loyal customers who were practically staff and helped out any newcomers. Robin had only become a member about six months ago but Topaz had been a member for at least three years now.

"I'll get this round." He announced as soon as he saw Topaz start to search her pockets for her purse. How does she fit her purse in such a tight outfit, anyway?

"Nah don't worry, I've got this. Besides, since when do thieves actually pay for things?" She grinned, checking out his costume again. "Did I tell you how realistic that looks, by the way? If I didn't know better I'd say you were the real Red X!"

"Thanks! Stole it myself." He joked, giving her a quick wink. "Though you're right about us thieves not paying for what we want." Robin grinned, deciding to just play along with his role as a villain. "But you might find it hard to pay without your purse." He smirked, holding up the white and blue item in question.

"Hey! How'd you…?" She tried to grab her purse back but he pulled it just out of her reach. "Right, that settles it, you really are Red X - I'm going to the police first thing in the morning." She glared playfully back at the 'villain'.

"Have to catch me first." He taunted, slipping out of the booth and towards the bar, almost bumping into a short guy in a Batgirl costume followed by a cheerful Indian guy wearing a skimpy Catwoman outfit as they headed onto the dance floor.


	2. Deals and Drinks

Robin used his own money to pay for the drinks; the hero couldn't actually steal money from his friend, but it turned out he didn't need to.

"Sorry, someone's already paid for your next drink already." The barmaid, a tall blonde in a very short police uniform grinned back at him. "Seems you've got a secret admirer."

"Who paid for it?"

She pointed out a redheaded boy sat on a bar stool a few seats down from them. Ironically, the redhead was dressed in an almost perfect Robin costume. The only thing that wasn't perfect was the belt, but even that was a pretty good replica. However, instead of spiking his hair up like the Titans' leader he let his hair hang loose, two thick curved bangs curled inwards to his forehead and overlapped the domino mask slightly.

"Well I guess I'll take three of whatever he's drinking then." Robin grinned, paying for the other two drinks before approaching the other teen to pass him one of the glasses.

"Kid. If someone pays for a drink for you, you usually don't give it back to them." The redhead snorted, drinking half of the blood-red liquid in the glass in one go.

"But then how d'you get to meet the person to thank them?" Robin asked innocently, sitting on the stool next to him.

"Thieves just take what they want, kid. Not that I think giving you anything for free will stop you from stealing anything else tonight." He winked, nodding towards the purse in the 'thief's' hands.

"Why, you got anything you're scared I'll steal?"

"Only my heart." The other teen grabbed at his chest a few times then gave a very over-the-top gasp. "Oh no! It's gone... The evil thief has stolen my heart!"

"Aww, poor little hero." Robin laughed. "Your friends hanging around?" He not-so-subtly asked if the redhead was here alone.

"Nah. Besides, I can look after myself."

"Here all alone?"

"Yep, all on my own, but like I said: I can take care of myself." He smirked.

"What's going on here?" Topaz asked, taking back her purse, apparently bored of waiting in the booth.

"I already got you a drink." Robin handed her the glass, only just realising that he hadn't touched his own.

"Cheers. I hope this little thief hasn't been any trouble." She quickly took in the redhead's appearance. Judging by the look on her face, she very much approved.

Robin decided to try the strange cocktail that had been bought for him. Looking closer at it, it was layered with different shades of red instead of being blood red like Robin had assumed earlier. The taste was strange but nice, a weird mix of sharp and sweet that made his detective skills instantly kick into overdrive to try and separate the tastes. He could taste vodka, blackcurrant, wine and... cranberry juice? Still, there was clearly more than that in the mix.

"He stole my heart." The teen shrugged like it was no big deal.

"So, you got a name?" Topaz asked, clearly checking his costume for a red badge.

"Guess we forgot the introduction, huh kid?" The red head laughed and shook his head. "Name's Red."

"She's Topaz. I'm Rich." Robin grinned.

"That a name or a promise?" Red joked.

"Name, unfortunately." He couldn't help but laugh at the irony. He could probably get Bruce to buy him the club if he wanted.

"You're not wearing a badge. You interested in the thief, then?" Topaz was very protective of 'her boys', this wouldn't be the first time she'd scared off someone who was flirting with him.

"Something tells me Twinks and thieves aren't a good mix." Red gave another over the top sigh. "There's no hope for us!"

"I doubt that _Robin _and _X _are gay." Robin shrugged. Last year he wouldn't have understood that a Twink was a young or young-looking gay guy, but the amount of gay slang used here made it pretty easy to pick it up. It felt weird denying his own sexuality, but at the moment he wasn't Robin and Richard Criss wouldn't know that Robin was gay. "If Robin was, I'm sure he'd have a boyfriend by now."

"Who says he doesn't? It's not like he'd take him to work with him." Topaz pointed out. "Besides, Red X's probably not gay."

"Nah. I don't think he minds. I've seen him flirt with the girl Titans _and _Robin." Red grinned.

"He's just being annoying." Robin grinned, finishing off his last of his drink.

"Dare you to ask him." The 'hero' challenged him with a grin.

"What?"

"Dare you to ask Red X if he's gay."

"What… I… Like you'd ask _Robin!_"

"Fine." Red held out his hand for Robin to shake. "I ask Robin, if you ask X. And no cheating, I'll know." Robin had never been one to back down from a challenge anyway, but the confident smile Red was giving him made it impossible.

"Bet you won't do it anyway." Topaz shrugged. "It's not like you're going to bump into them on the street and stop for a chat!"

"You never know..." Robin chuckled at the irony of her words. "This is Jump City - _anything_ could happen!"


End file.
